By Sulayman Bah
Tijan Jaiteh has been handed his first call-up under coach Sang Ndong for the encounter against Cameroon.
The midfielder has been sidelined since Ndong took over the managerial helm of the country as the erstwhile Hawks gaffer went about fixing his team around youth players.
During the three Afcon qualifier matches the former Gambia goalkeeper-turned tactician has overseen, it occurred that Jaiteh had been preoccupied looking to pick form and break into KuPS starting setup whom he’d newly joined then.
The now 27-year-old playmaking star is redeemed and is back playing games for Finnish Premier League raking a combined one thousand, three hundred and forty-four minutes of football for the Yellow and Blacks.
There is no mentioning of Sulayman Marreh who’s eyeing to work his way into Granada’s Laliga A-team and thus Tijan would likely be joined by Hamza Barry in midfield against Cameroon.
The Scorpions face group leaders Cameroon and twelve days before commencement of the fixture, Sang Ndong has set about summoning his charges for national duty.
But Omar Colley, second most expensive Gambian footballer in history following his 2m euros move to Genk, will miss out on this cracking duel due to card accumulation, according to Football House.
The 23-year-old got booked in the Mauritania and South Africa fixtures making him ineligible for the return-leg match against the indomitable Lions. Bubacarr Sanneh is named as his replacement at the back-four with Gregory at right-back.
The ex-Hawks tactician is yet to secure a win in four matches since taking over the managerial helm of the country’s senior team.
The Scorpions sit bottom of Group M on a mere two points after managing to draw only South Africa and Mauritania in five games.
By result of the nation’s standing, the Scorpions’ would only be playing to save face having let slip chances of qualifying to what could have been a maiden appearance in the Gabon finals 2017.
In this showdown, gaffer Ndong, bent on rebuilding a formidable squad ahead of forthcoming competitions, will be accorded opportunity to get to test his new players. While he might consider throwing in few new players, familiar faces will undoubtedly feature with one of those being defender Alieu Jatta.
Jatta, who plies with Senegealese second tier outfit Generation Foot and was recently in France with his team, has been handed a call-up –his second under the current coach.
Star names like Modou Barrow, Mustapha Carayol and Lamin Jallow, who’d initially looked doubtful, would in fact participate after been handed call-ups.
Bulgaria-based Bakary Njie Kambi who’s becoming a hit amongst fans after his debut against South Africa, is also summoned along with forward Bubacarr Trawally and Assan Ceesay.
Sang though is yet to make public of his roster of invited players but an announcement is expected at least in coming days.
The game is to be played in Limbe Omnisports Stadium, outside Douala.
